...“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the top liberal arts schools on those liberal arts school rankings are the same as the top schools athletically,” the new Bates College athletic director said. “It’s by design.”

Fein is two months into his tenure as Bates College’s athletic director. One thing he knew even before he moved from New Jersey to Maine, is that his job isn’t to overhaul the Bobcats’ sports programs.

Bates ranks 23rd in the latest U.S. World News and Report rankings of the country’s liberal arts colleges. Athletically, the school came in 20th out of 324 Division III schools in the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) 2016-17 Learfield Directors' Cup ratings.

So Fein has entered a nice situation, and his role is to elevate Bates College, the institution, even higher, primarily by leading its athletic department to an even higher stature.

...On the positive side, Harriman said that most of the first-time starters rose to the occasion.

“I thought they responded well. They certainly got ready to play during the week,” Harriman said.

As they prepare for the Bantams, Harriman said the focus will be mostly on Bates.

“What I told the team … it’s all about us, it’s not about who we’re playing,” Harriman said.

He added: “It’s fundamentally, technique-wise, assignment-wise, it just starts with each individual, each guy being better at his position, but then being better overall in our offensive unit, defensive unit. If we can do that, I think we’ll be in good shape.”